Causwell's Dedication Gets Scouts' Attention

April 15, 1990|By Brian Schmitz, Sentinel columnist

Duane Causwell tried as hard as he could to avoid turning his body over to basketball. And on the New York City playgrounds, that's near impossible. Even though his genes were stretching him toward 7feet, Duane's dream was to be the world's tallest first baseman. (Talk about a stretch.) Finally, Causwell surrendered to the game, and his struggles have paid off here at the Orlando All-Star Classic. Practically unable to make a layup five years ago without endangering his health, Causwell has made a name for himself in the minds of NBA scouts, if not the Classic's seamstresses.

The name on the back of Duane's jersey this week was spelled ''CAUSEWELL.''

''That's all right,'' said Ron Naclerio, Causwell's former high school coach who accompanied him to Orlando. ''The scouts know how to spell it now. Newsday's headline yesterday said, 'Caus Has Helped His Cause.' And Duane has.''

Magic scout John Gabriel said Causwell, a question mark coming in, has perhaps played his way into being a late first-round draft pick.

A former center for Temple, Causwell scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds for the East in his first game. He followed with 13-point and 12-point nights.

That's an admirable effort considering Causwell hadn't played against such stiff competition after flunking out of Temple last January. But instead of sulking and letting himself go like another Dwayne - ex-Gator patriot Dwayne Schintzius - Causwell labored in the gym. Under the whip of former NBA coach Jack McKinney, he worked on his conditioning and low-post game.

''I didn't want to slough off, come in here and show scouts I was lazy,'' Causwell said. ''I was ready for it. Only thing I wasn't used to was all the banging. . . . If I hadn't come here, why would anybody believe I could play on the next level?''

Causwell, 21, said flunking out was ''devastating.'' But he is trying to overcome obstacles in the classroom as he did on the court. He now is only a few credit hours short of a degree and will return to Temple after taking community college courses.

Causwell still is a pro project, however, underweight and at times mechanical. But he's worlds away from the player Naclerio had at Cardozo (N.Y.) High School.

Naclerio said Causwell was so uncoordinated he couldn't shoot a layup and couldn't dunk on a 9-foot-6 basket. Causwell could bench-press just 55 pounds. He had his heart set on being a baseball player - the next Willie ''Stretch'' McCovey. ''I just wasn't into basketball,'' Causwell said. ''I always loved baseball. That was my sport.''

Then he saw some a game on TV that changed his direction - a basketball game. ''Patrick Ewing was playing. Saw the way he was blocking shots, and that turned me on,'' he said.

Causwell, having sprouted to 6-10 after his junior year in high school, finally played as a senior and showed promise. ''He had no confidence,'' Naclerio said. ''I called him 'Kareem Abdul-Causwell' (after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) just to pump him up. I held him out of some games against good teams so he wouldn't get discouraged,'' he said.

Still, Naclerio could only convince Temple to take a chance. Causwell helped the Owls to an Atlantic 10 title last year, averaging 11.3 points and 8.3 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

This week only reminded Naclerio how far Causwell has come. ''First time I threw a pass to him it hit his hands and just fell to the floor,'' he said. ''Kids laughed at him, but I told everybody that in a few years you'd see Duane playing on TV.''